One of the world record trophies on display at the recent Parkland Outdoor Show and Expo was the Hanson buck. The world record buck shot by Milo Hanson in 1993 sported a huge rack measuring 220 7/8 which was declared to be a world record size two years later. The typical whitetail deer trophy was taken just off Hanson's farm about seven miles northeast of Biggar, Saskatchewan.
Hanson says he knew the buck was in the area from reports of others who had seen it. Hanson himself hadn't seen the animal until he actually brought it down. "Anybody that had seen him said it looked like he had a rocking chair on his head," Hanson claims.
He and his hunting partners went looking for the buck on the opening day of the hunting season but couldn't find the elusive buck. Hanson and a friend tried again Thursday of the same week but unsuccessful again, losing the buck in the maze of tracks in the field.
The weather turned cold and it snowed over the following weekend. Tuesday Hanson and his party of four hunters spotted the buck. Fresh snow made it possible to track the animal. "He came out my side and I was the lucky gut to be able to harvest him," Hanson reports. He admits it was a group effort.
Hanson shot the buck with his .308 model 88 Winchester. He says he knew he had a trophy but he didn't know it was a world record trophy. "I didn't know what the world record was," he admits.
They took the buck home, hung it up in the shop and returned to the hunt to fill the doe tags held by his hunting companions. When word spread about Hanson's trophy head, his yard filled with half tons as everyone in the Biggar area came out to look at the huge animal.
Hanson had the buck measured for the local club. The measurer, Adam Evashenko, suggested the rack might be a world record size. Hanson was content at the time to claim the local trophy, but at Evashenko's urging he submitted the measurement for a try at the world record which was awarded in 1995.
Hanson continues to hunt three weeks every year. "I don't go all over the world trying to hunt but just in our local area. Nothing has changed. I still hunt with the same guys and still get excited," he says. "As long as I get excited, that's all that counts," Hanson closes.
